Macron triumphs – thrashing Le Pen

Emmanuel Macron has won the French presidential election. According to projections, the incumbent centrist has won 58% of the vote compared to 42% for his opponent, the far-right Marine Le Pen.

Speaking at his victory rally, Macron credited the French people with building a “barricade against the ideas of the far-right.” He vowed to be a “President of everyone.” He continued: “The years to come will certainly be difficult, but they will be historic.”

Marine Le Pen improved markedly on the 33.9 per cent of the vote she won in the 2017 run-off. Initial results showed that she performed well in the post-industrial north. She also did well in France’s overseas territories, winning over 60 per cent of the vote in Martinique and almost 70 per cent in Guadeloupe. All three islands recorded high levels of abstentions.

Le Pen called the result “a shining victory in itself.” She added: “The ideas we represent are reaching summits.” She won the most votes for a far-right programme since the inception of the French Fifth Republic. Her campaign was focused on the cost of living and identity issues, such as a promise to fine Muslims who wear the hijab in public.

World leaders welcomed Macron’s re-election. The UK’s Boris Johnson tweeted: “France is one of our closest and most important allies.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that French voters “have sent a strong vote of confidence in Europe today.”

Macron will now face legislative elections in June. Yesterday, the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon urged voters to “elect a majority of MPs from La France Insoumise,” (his party). This would put Macron in a difficult position, he argued: “If it does not suit the president, then he can go, because I will not.” Mélenchon polled just behind Le Pen in the first round of the presidential race. The campaign begins on May 10. Macron’s party “La Republique en Marche” currently holds 263 seats. Les Republicains are the next biggest party with 93 seats.

It is twenty years since a French President won re-election and the last to do so managed the feat in far more auspicious circumstances. In 2002, Jacques Chirac beat Jean-Marie Le Pen by a huge margin, 82 per cent, in a show of national unity against the far-right. Emmanuel Macron deserves credit for pulling off a convincing victory after a first term marked by economic uncertainty and the Covid pandemic. Macron has a chance to continue the modernisation project he launched five years ago. Historic times beckon for France and Europe.